SOUTH AFRICAN REVIVAL – JACO DIEDERIKS

Table of Contents

I. Overview, Timeline & Primary Events 3

Background 3

Prior to 1859 4

1859 5

1860 6

50 days Post Conference in Wellington, First Revival Outbreaks in Montagu 6

Sometime after the Montagu Revival but before Worcester Revival 7

Worcester 27th May 1860 - Induction of Andrew Murray Jnr. 7

September 1860 Revival Spread to Other Farms in Goudini and Hex River 9

Shortly after Murray’s Visit to the Farms 9

September 1860 Revival in Stellenbosch 10

October 1860 Revival in Wellington 10

Beginning of 1861 11

May 1861 12

September 1861 12

April 1862 12

II. Contemporary Events 12

Dutch East India Company 12

Congregations within 130km radius of Cape Town 13

Only Book was the Dutch States Bible 13

Afrikaans Community 13

Islam 13

Evangelistic Injustice 13

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Church in Dire State 13

Division Between Churches 13

Racial Division in the Church Council 13

The State of Montagu Prior to 1860 13

Worcester Women’s Restrictions 13

“Spiritual Paralysis” 13

III. Primary Areas of Impact 14

First Wave 14

Second Wave 14

Social & Individual Areas of Impact 14

IV. Small Beginnings to Catalyzed Movements 15

Small beginnings 15

Catalytic Movements 15

V. Essential Steps of Simple Obedience & Risk Taking 15

Andrew Murray Snr. 15

Miss Van Blerk / Soul the Prophet/ Jan Naude 15

Gideon Malherbe 15

Distribution of the 85-page booklet: “The Power of Prayer” 1859 15

VI. The Point God Intervened, Tipping Point 16

Prayer Meetings 16

Intercession 16

Physical Manifestations 16

Awakening 16

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VII. Connection to Other Movements 16
Fruits and Outcomes 16

VII. Important Quotes 17

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I. Overview, Timeline & Primary Events
A) Background

1. Main Revival from 1860 - 1862 (started petering out)

2. Main Role players in the years preceding and during the revival:

a. Andrew Murray Jnr. (Chapter 2)

i. Born to Andrew Murray Snr.

○ In Graaff Reinet 9th May 1828

○ In 1839 Andrew Murray Jnr. and brother John was sent to

Scotland to be educated.

ii. Influenced majorly by William Burns and Dr Chalmers in Aberdeen

Scotland.

iii. Graduated with an M.A degree and went on to study Theology in

Utrecht, Holland.

iv. Met Nicolaas Hofmeyr and Jan Neethling in Holland, who would both
play pivotal roles in the revival.

v. Was not allowed to pastor a church on his return to SA because he was

not yet 22. He travelled beyond the borders of the Cape Colony to
evangelize there to the uneducated farmers.

vi. Prior to the revival he was not known to preach with any power. He was
a great orator, but prone to trying to make things work by his own power
due to pride. (W.M. Douglas, Andrew Murray

b. Gottlieb van der Lingen (Chapter 4)

i. Born 29th May 1804

○ Born to Dutch Missionaries in South Africa

○ Returned to Holland at 13

○ Studied at Utrecht in Holland

ii. Was regarded as ultra-conservativ

iii. Was known to receive visions

iv. A great prophetic voice of his time

v. Moved back to South Africa and became the Pastor of Paarl parish.

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vi. Great advocate for Christian education started Paarl Gymnasium which
stands to this day as a premier school in South Africa.

c. Nicolaas Hofmeyr (Chapter 3)

i. Born 8th March 1827 in Cape Town

ii. Wrought with Physical weakness throughout his life

iii. Became Lead pastor for a town he called Calvina 320km away from
Cape Town

iv. This congregation was completely void of corporate prayer

○ During his 6 years of ministry, there was not one corporate

prayer gathering

○ He met with one local missionary named Van der Rijst, the two
of them met weekly to pray for revival.

v. Faced intense opposition to mission work especially amongst the

farmworker, coloured community.

B) Prior to 1859

1. As Early as 1847 communal prayer had been suggested but poorly attended.

2. The language of scripture was high Dutch, the language of preaching was high dutch,
however, very few people understood or spoke high dutch. Public schools had been
anglicized, meaning they only taught in English. Therefore people understood even less
dutch.

3. The Dutch East India Company was the sole appointee of pastors, it dictated religious
policy, appointments, governing marriages as well as the conversion of the heathens.
Between the establishment of the colony in 1652 and 1790 only 5 congregations had been
planted in the entire Cape Colony.

a. All of these congregations were within 130km radius of Cape Town.

b. The only book they had was the Dutch States Bible

4. The Afrikaans community focused first on translating the Old Testament which gave
them a skewed theology within which they believed themselves to be the new chosen
people of God - like the Israelites.

5. Most workers had turned to Islam because the doors to Christianity were shut to them.

6. The farmers did not want to evangelize to their workers because it was socially accepted
that if a slave became a Christian and was baptized then the owner was legally bound to
set him/her free.

7. The church was in a dire state

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8. There was a lot of division between the churches

9. The church council was divided on whether or not the coloureds and the whites should be
in the same churches

10. Many of the farmers/Afrikaners did not want the coloureds/farm workers to be
evangelised as it would give them access to rights that were reserved for Christians.

C) 1859

May 1859 - the first prayer gathering in response to reports of the prayer movement revival in
NYC in Montagu prior to May 1860 no more than three people attended. (The Forgotten Revival
of South Africa - Chapter 6)

1. The first call to prayer came in August 1859 - Three DRC ministers challenged all of the
DRC ministers to preach a series on the character of God, the role of the Holy Spirit in
Revival and the need for both corporate and private prayer for the outpouring of God’s
Holy Spirit - Called by Faure, Morgan and Cameron - https://www.reformationsa.org/
index.php/history/54-1860revival

2. An 85-page booklet handed circulated throughout 1859 entitled “The Power of Prayer”
October 1859 - Letter published in the main church circulatory journal undersigned by 14
clergy members including Andrew Murray Sr and Gottlieb Van Der Lingen: The letter
affirmed the reports of awakening in America and called the churches to earnestly and
fervently pray at least 1 hour per week for Revival.

3. Andrew Murray Sr. had prayed for Revival every Friday for 38yrs. https://
www.reformationsa.org/index.php/history/54-1860revival

D) 1860

First rumours of the coming revival started at the Worcester conference April 1860

April 1860 - Conference of over 374 clergy/pastors and delegates called in Worcester

1. Big conference held in Worcester April 17th 1860, First Christian Conference in the
Cape. Delegates from all over the Cape Colony gathered. 374 gathered to discuss “things
concerning God’s Kingdom.”
2. 20 Congregations were represented

3. 8 of the Ministers from the 16 Dutch Reformed Congregations were part of the Murray
Family.

4. The conference began with a seminar on Revival Reporting the revivals happening in
Britain and America at the time. There was a big push to see spiritual revival come to
South Africa

5. Andrew Murray Jnr is said to have “prayed a prayer so full of power and emotion that
people came under a deep conviction of sin”

E) 50 days Post Conference in Wellington, First Revival Outbreaks in Montagu

(Revival Fire, By Wesley L. Duewel, pg 172, 1995)

1. Revival came gently like a whisper

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2. The returning delegates joined the already occurring prayer meetings by the beginning of
May a spirit of prayer and expectation had started to grip the town.

3. Prayer revival started in the methodist church. Prayer meetings were held every night of
the week as well as Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings sometimes as early as 3
am.

4. At one point 6 prayer meetings would be going on in the village at any one time.
Congregants of one denomination would just go to the next church for another prayer
meeting once theirs was finished. This went on for weeks, with reports spreading to
nearby Worcester where new prayer meetings were started.

5. For 2 to 3 weeks multiple cases of heartfelt conversions occurred daily. There was
scarcely a house in the village where the awakening of God’s Spirit had not been felt by
one or more.

6. Even those who did not approve of the revival marked that the general improvement in
the conduct of the inhabitants within the space of a few months was marvellous.
7. Report from one such prayer meeting:

8. Sunday, July 22nd 186

“A prayer meeting was conducted and the spiritual fervour was so great that the people
complained the meeting ended an hour too soon. A year ago the prayer meetings were
unknown. Now they are held daily, and sometimes as frequently as three times a day -
even amongst children. Some have doubted whether this is the work of God’s spirit, but
we have witnessed a case in which a man has come under strong conviction of sin, and on
that account has suffered indescribable anguish from which nothing was able to deliver
him but prayer and simple faith in the expiatory sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (J.
du Plessis, The life of Andrew Murray of South Africa, p.199

9. A second Revival would come to Montagu in 1874, the revival of 1860 was a prayer
revival. The Revival of 1874 would be one of joy and worship.

F) Sometime after the Montagu Revival but before Worcester Revival

1. Members from the Calvina church that Nicholas Hofmeyr had pastored for 6 years had
reportedly been in Montagu during the revival and taken it back to Calvina. (Calvina is
notable north of Cape Town.

2. For 6 years no prayer meeting had existed.

3. The distance that congregants lived from the church meant they only attended church 3 or
4 times a year.

4. When the spirit of prayer hit over seven prayer meetings was established in a matter of
days. These members had no minister and did not gather regularly or read what was
happening in other parts of the colony to be influenced. It was clear this had to be God.
(Nicholas Hofmeyr, a brief account of the present revival of religion in some places of
this colony. [Microform copy])

5. The outbreak of revival was mostly felt amongst the Coloureds and Africans. Especially
heartfelt amongst the children seeking with earnestness for their salvation. (Nel, Olea.

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South Africa's Forgotten Revival: The Story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860.
Olive Twig Books. Kindle Edition. Chapter 11)

6. Multiple prayer meetings arose simultaneously even in the same parts of town.

G) Worcester 27th May 1860 - Induction of Andrew Murray Jnr.

1. At the time the congregants had mostly just status religion and not true relationship

2. Only 1 or 2 of the older members would engage in prayer

3. Women were not allowed to take audible part in prayer

4. Murray preached on conversion and faith

5. Awakening did not come through his preaching

6. Murray waited 6 months before engaging in preaching for revival after it was established
that no one had worked or preached the revival up.

7. Revival came like a firestorm not to the church members but according to Emma Murray
it came to the farming folk on David Naude’s farm in the Breede River ward of Worcester
(W.M Douglas, Andrew Murray and his message, p.84.)

8. 3 Had been faithfully praying for months (Jan Naude, Miss Van Blerk and a coloured
farmhand known as Soul the Prophet)

a. Alcoholism was rife amongst coloureds and Miss Van Blerk was distressed by
their state

b. Just prior to the outbreak of Revival Miss Van Blerk spent a week in continuous
prayer for the coloureds.

c. When the Holy Spirit broke out it was pandemonium as the people were very
emotional.

d. Due to the overwhelming nature of their conversion, she left to Worcester for one
week. When she came back she was met with the coloured workers singing to
greet her. Liebenberg writes that nearly everyone on the farm was saved. (F.J
Liebenberg, Pamphlet).

9. People from neighbouring farms flocked to these prayer meetings. “White and coloured
all gathered to caste themselves before God in cries of penitence from the depths of their
souls.” ( J du Plessis, p194)

10. Key event:

a. One evening soon after the breakthrough of the Revival Andrew Murray arrived
to call the farm meeting to order. He issued warnings and gave the opportunity
for individual prayers. However, the meeting burst into simultaneous pleadings
for forgiveness and mercy. Saul (the coloured man who prayed), confronted
Murray and Naude (the farm owner) saying: “Try now to throw a dam wall

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around if you can,” in other words challenging them to try to contain the spirit if
they could.

b. Murray would have seen this situation especially challenging as the revival broke
out not amongst the white churchgoers but amongst the Coloureds who had
probably not even been baptized. There was also an intense emotionalism and
other Holy Spirit manifestations, Murray was not a proponent of emotionalism.

c. As the news of Revival spread, members of other congregations flocked to the

Naude farm with their wagons and carts.

d. The Naude farm halted farming operations for 3 months to assist those who came
seeking their salvation.

H) September 1860 Revival Spread to Other Farms in Goudini and Hex River

1. Farms in Worcester/Wellington and Tulbagh were all impacted by the revival.

2. Prayer meetings that a year before had no more than three or four in attendance had
White’s and Blacks flocking to attend prayer meetings on almost every farm in the
Breede River valley (Worcester parish)

3. These prayer meetings have carried on now for more than 4 or 5 months. (Nicholas
Hofmeyr, a brief account of the present revival of religion in some places of this colony.
[Microform copy])

I) Shortly after Murray’s Visit to the Farms

1. Revival spread to the village of Worcester one Sunday evening, 60 people had gathered.

2. J.C. de Vries (The leader of the meeting) wrote the following account:

On a certain Sunday evening, there were gathered in a little hall some sixty young people.
I was the leader of the meeting, which commenced with a hymn and a lesson from God’s
Word, after which I engaged in prayer. After three or four others had (as was customary)
given out a verse of a hymn and offered prayer, a Coloured girl of about fifteen years of
age, in service of a farmer from Hex River, rose at the back of the hall and asked if she
might propose a hymn. At first, I hesitated, not knowing what the meeting would think,
but better thoughts prevailed and I replied, Yes. She gave out her hymn-verse and prayed
in moving tones. While she was praying, we heard as it was a sound in the distance,
which came nearer and nearer until the hall seemed to be shaken, and with one or two
exceptions, the whole meeting began to pray – the majority in audible voice, but some in
whispers. Nevertheless, the noise made by the concourse was deafening. A feeling which
I cannot describe took possession of me. Even now, forty-three years after these
occurrences, the events of that never-to-be-forgotten night pass before my mind’s eye like
a soul-stirring panorama. I feel again as I then felt, and cannot refrain from pushing my
chair backwards and thanking the Lord fervently for his mighty deeds. At that time Rev.
A. Murray was minister of Worcester. He had preached that evening in the English
language. When the service was over, an elder [Mr Jan Rabie] passed the door of the hall,
heard the noise, peeped in, and then hastened to call Mr Murray, returning presently with
him. Mr Murray came forward to the table where I knelt praying, touched me, and made
me understand that he wanted me to rise. He then asked me what had happened. I relayed

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everything to him. He then walked down the hall for some distance and called out, as
loudly as he could, People, silence! But the praying continued. In the meantime, I too
kneeled down again. It seemed to me that if the Lord was coming to bless us, I should not
be upon my feet but on my knees. Mr Murray then called again aloud, People, I am your
minister sent from God, silence! But there was no stopping the noise. No one heard him,
but all continued praying and calling on God for mercy and pardon. Mr Murray then
returned to me and told me to start the hymn-verse commencing ‘Help de Ziel die
raadloos schreit’ (Aid the soul that helpless cries). I did so, but the emotions were not
quieted, and the meeting went on praying. Mr Murray then prepared to depart, saying,
‘God is a God of order, and here everything is confusion.’ With that, he left the hall. (J.
du Plessis, pp. 194&195)

3. After this outbreak prayer meetings commenced every night of the week.

a. The small hall became too small, they moved to a schoolhouse. This became too
small. They then moved to a larger meeting house.

b. The first night that they met in this larger house Andrew Murray was leading the
meeting. After some initial scripture and prayer, the floor was opened up for
other individual prayers. This quickly turned into a meeting where everyone was
praying allowed in anguish.

c. A stranger had been watching the whole event and as Murray wanted to quiet
down the congregation the stranger said to him: “I think you are the minister of
this congregation, be careful what you do, for it is the Spirit of God that is at
work here. I have just come from America, and this is precisely what I witnessed
there.

(J. du Plessis, pp. 195&196) This was the last time that it is recorded that Murray
tried to calm down a prayer meeting.

4. Multiple reports from throughout the revival time period of people “fainting” or “falling
in the Spirit” (Nel, Olea. South Africa's Forgotten Revival: The Story of the Cape's Great
Awakening in 1860 . Olive Twig Books. Kindle Edition. Chapter 10)

J) September 1860 Revival in Stellenbosch

1. The Church Bulletin read “The whole of society has been changed, yes, literally turned
upside down!”

2. Prayer meetings were held on the premises of liquor stores - this helped to reach the
Coloureds who spent all their money on liquor even on Sundays.

K) October 1860 Revival in Wellington

1. The Presbytery report for Wellington read the revival there “was a complete awakening
from the dead.”

2. By late 1860 their interest in missions grew to such an extent that they established their
own missionary society. A month or so after the outbreak of Revival the church needed
renovations to fit all the new converts in. However, even after renovations, the church
was still not big enough for everyone to be in one service.

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3. By Late 1860 The last three places to experience the first wave Revival were Tulbagh,
Ceres and Robertson.

4. Rhenish Mission society was the only mission society present at the April 1860
conference in Worcester. Sure enough, it too had experienced a revival during the last
quarter of 1860. Its revival was mostly amongst native Africans.

5. Interesting to note that Revival did not, for the most part, come to the English
congregations.

6. October 26th, 1860 - The first prayer meeting was held in the big private school called
Paarl Gymnasium in Paarl. This revival was amongst the coloured population in a small
village called Klein Drakenstein, and then also amongst the farmworkers of Dalojosafaat.
(Anonymous. ‘Dr. Andrew Murray: Die herlewing in Suid-Afrika in die jare 1859-1891’,
accompaniment to Versamelde Werke van Andrew Murray: Deel 6: Die Geestelike
toestand van die Kerk, Stellenbosch: Christelike Studente Vereniging van Suid-Afrika,
1944. Retrieved from Reforma: Dr. Andrew Murray tuisblad, p. 1. At: http://
reforma.moreson.org.za/Herlewing_in_Suid_Afrika_Murray.html )
7. However, awakening across Paarl was not seen as fully present until January 1861.

L) Beginning of 1861

Murray waited 6 months from the outset of the revival before he started preaching on it. After the
6 months by the beginning of 1861, he was being invited all around South Africa sharing about
what God was doing. Notably one of the places was Graaff Reinet where his Father Andrew
Murray Snr. led a congregation and had prayed for revival every Friday for 38 years.

1. January 1861

a. After Nicholas Hofmeyr’s October 1860 report on the first wave of revival, the
Evangelical Alliance was ready for another wave of revival to break out.

b. This came after a Conference was held in Liverpool, England calling people to
corporate prayer between January 5th and 13th. This news travelled to the
Evangelical Alliance in Britain who passed it onto the South African Evangelical
Alliance. They called all of the Cape Colony once again to fervent prayer.

c. They also called for another ministers conference on January 16th and 17th.

d. Where the previous calls to prayer by the DRC had landed on deaf ears this time
the call was met with greater fervour and a hunger for Revival. ( Nel, Olea. South
Africa's Forgotten Revival: The Story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860 .
Olive Twig Books. Kindle Edition. Chapter 11)

e. January 4th - A gathering of 20 girls were listening to a report of what had

happened in Worcester a year before amongst the young people there.
Immediately the room broke out in fervent and simultaneous prayer with
rendering please for mercy and for their souls.

2. Andrew Murray preached on the revivals of 1869 in Cape Town January of 1861

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3. He preached in Graaff Reinet in April 1861 and this is when revival broke out in this
town.

4. The call to prayer and the ministers’ conference in January sparked a second wave of
revival.

M) May 1861

1. Gideon Malherbe ( Son in Law of Van der Lingen) proposed that the church of Paarl meet
every day for the 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost seeking God gathering in
large groups to pray for God to pour out a special blessing. This happened between May
9th and May 19th 1861. (Michiel C. Kitshoff, p. 157)

2. Van der Lingen was reluctant to join these meetings, however, May 1862 he would call
for this 10-day vigil to be observed once again. This would only be after he experienced
his own crisis for salvation May 11th 1861.

3. May 19th, 1861, Van der Lingen expresses: “How many years have I not served God as a
servant? But what a great difference, serving him as a servant and serving Him as a son! I
only now understand the freedom.”

4. In May 1862, Van der Lingen calls for his church to repeat the 10-day prayer meetings.
Other churches follow suit. By 1867 Andrew Murray incorporated evangelical services
into these 10 days of gathering. This practice has continued within the DRC into the
current age with people who do not regularly attend church still feeling obligated to
attend this 10-day focus on prayer.

N) September 1861

A report from the same village of Worcester reported a year later to still be engaging in anguished
prayers praying: “Lord won’t you pour out your Holy Spirit?” “Yes Lord, do it, Oh Lord convert
the unconverted!” (J.D Kestell, p.93.)

O) April 1862
1. Murray realised that he had dipped into preaching and appealing out of his own strength
again especially as church life had started to return to normal.

2. By the end of April 1862, he left his congregation to go and be a missionary to the people
of Transvaal deep in the interior of northern South Africa.

II. Contemporary Events

A) Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was the sole appointee of pastors, it dictated religious policy,
appointments, governing marriages as well as the conversion of the heathens. Between the
establishment of the colony in 1652 and 1790 only 5 congregations had been planted in the entire
Cape Colony.

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B) Congregations within 130km radius of Cape Town

C) Only Book was the Dutch States Bible

D) Afrikaans Community

The Afrikaans community focused first on translating the Old Testament which gave them a
skewed theology within which they believed themselves to be the new chosen people of God -
like the Israelites.

E) Islam

Most workers had turned to Islam because the doors to Christianity were shut to them.

F) Evangelistic Injustice

Many farmers and Afrikaners did not want to evangelize to their workers because it was socially
accepted that if a slave became a Christian and was baptized then the owner was legally bound to
set him/her free. It would also give them access to the rights that were reserved for Christians.

G) Church in Dire State

H) Division Between Churches

I) Racial Division in the Church Council

The church council was divided on whether or not the coloureds and the whites should be in the
same churches

J) The State of Montagu Prior to 1860

This state was reflected throughout the majority of all the Cape Colony and all South Africa prior
to the Revival breaking out.

“Before the days of revival, the situation of our congregation was lamentable. Love of the
world and sin; no earnestness or heartfelt desire for salvation; sinning and idleness - this
was the order of the day.” (Servaas, 1870)
K) Worcester Women’s Restrictions

In Worcester, women were not allowed to take part in audible corporate prayer.

L) “Spiritual Paralysis”

The overarching description of South Africa prior to the Revival of 1860 was “Spiritual
Paralysis.”

III. Primary Areas of Impact

A) First Wave

1. Western Cape: Montagu, Worcester, Tulbagh, Ceres, Robertson, Stellenbosch,

Wellington, Paarl (limited to Klein Drakenstein and Daljosafat), Simonstown (hearsay)

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2. Northern Cape: Calvinia, Schietfontein Rhenish Mission Station, (plus incipient revivals
in other Rhenish Mission Stations that weren’t identified)

B) Second Wave

1. Western Cape: Paarl, Franschhoek, Villiersdorp, Caledon, Swellendam, Heidelberg,

Riversdal, Prins Albert, Beaufort West, Murraysburg

2. Eastern Cape: Aberdeen, Graaff-Reinet, Somerset East, Adelaide, Queenstown,

Sterkstroom, Lady Grey

3. Northern Cape: Richmond

4. Orange Free State: Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Harrismith, Fauresmith

5. Natal: Ladysmith

6. Transvaal: Hartebeesfontein

(Nel, Olea. South Africa's Forgotten Revival: The Story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860.
Olive Twig Books. Kindle Edition. Chapter 13)

C) Social & Individual Areas of Impact

1. Churches were filled particularly through prayer and prayer meetings.

2. People were brought into right relationship with Christ and not just status Christianity

3. Breakdown of aversion to missions and black and white and coloured came together in
prayer.

4. Fervency and urgency in prayer and anguish for mercy and salvation.

5. A great move of emotional outcry to God.

The stoic experience of God at a distance was gone and replaced with true connection
and true relationship.

IV. Small Beginnings to Catalyzed Movements

A) Small beginnings

1. It was small prayer meetings that preceded and birthed the 1860 Revival. Prayer meetings
that prior to 1860 had no more than 3-4 attendees met regularly. Andrew Murray Snr. set
aside every Friday night for 38 years praying by himself for revival.

2. In most of the towns, there was not even a resident preacher leading them in the prayer
meetings.

B) Catalytic Movements
1. The Revival that would spread to 35 towns across two waves could be traced back to the
returning delegates from the April 1860 conference gathering in Montagu and praying for
Revival. What started as 3 /4 people very quickly turned into a town wrapped with the

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spirit of prayer. At any one time 6 simultaneous prayer meetings were taking place every
day other than Mondays until 3 am.

2. This pattern would follow in just about every town.

3. However, in Worcester district it would start with a Farmer, a female teacher and a
coloured farmworker contending in prayer for revival out on the farms for months. Until
the Holy Spirit would come in power.

4. Each town was characterised by a remnant praying of revival to come.

V. Essential Steps of Simple Obedience & Risk Taking

A) Andrew Murray Snr.

Praying faithfully for Revival for 38 years

B) Miss Van Blerk / Soul the Prophet/ Jan Naude

1. Praying for months for revival on the farms of Worcester

2. Miss Van Blerk evangelising and teaching the coloured folk

3. The 15-year-old Coloured girl singing a hymn on the Worcester Church that would
precede the outbreak of revival there.

C) Gideon Malherbe

Starting the 10-day prayer meetings between Ascension day and Pentecost Sunday.

D) Distribution of the 85-page booklet: “The Power of Prayer” 1859

VI. The Point God Intervened, Tipping Point

A) Prayer Meetings

During the Prayer meetings that were faithfully held by the small groups God would come with
power.

B) Intercession

People would be filled with urgency and anxious fervent prayers for mercy and salvation.

C) Physical Manifestations

People would encounter God “fainting” in the Spirit as well as other physical manifestations.

D) Awakening

It truly was a God moment that seemingly out of nowhere people started to flock to the same
prayer meetings that they had been invited to multiple times before.

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VII. Connection to Other Movements

Fruits and Outcomes

1. Before Revival, the monthly organised prayer meetings had little to no attendees. After
revival prayer meetings were held on a weekly basis by the request of the congregants.

2. The DRC embraced the 10-day Pentecost services and prayer meetings.

3. By 1861 more than 50 young men had enrolled to be ministers to meet the great shortage.

4. Establishment of an orthodox-oriented newspaper - this countered the liberal voice that

questioned and defamed the revival or its genuineness. Andrew Murray and Servaas
Hofmeyr established the bi-weekly “De Volksvriend” - meaning friend of the folk.
5. Greatest of all fruits was the post revival missionary drive:

a. Revival broke down the anti-mission stronghold

b. 15th September 1860 - missions interest was shown amongst DRC members

c. April 1861 - De Wekker (the church journal) - encouraged believers to preach the
gospel to their servants and to allow their sons and daughters to become
missionaries for the first time.

6. The women’s missions movement erupted from 4 associations to 31 women’s missionary

associations. (M.W.Retief pp. 55&56)

7. Years later these associations would join together to become the Women’s Missionary
Union - which still exists today. Emma Murray (Andrew Murray Jnr’s wife), was its first
president. (J. du Plessis, The life of Andrew Murray of South Africa, p. 486.)

8. By 1927 The missions committee of the cape DRC reported to have 304 serving
missionaries with over 72,000 baptized Africans at the time.
9. The educational work of the foreign missions agencies was incredible.

a. 1447 schools established

b. 2,699 Teachers trained

c. 96,309 pupils

10. Missionaries in Southern Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Sudan as well as the
African tribes in Northern South Africa.

(A.C. Murray & J.W.L Hofmeyr, Dagbreek in donker Afrika, p. 94)

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VII. Important Quotes

“Extraordinary scenes were witnessed in those days. Anxious cries were uttered, heavy with fear.
Heart-rendering testimonies of conversion were heard. Visions were seen and troubled dreams
dreamt. Here in corporate prayer, elsewhere in quiet dwellings, even behind bushes and rocks, on

mountains and in ravines, men, women, greyheads, children, gentlemen, servants – all kneeling
on the same ground crying for mercy. And none of this expected by anyone, nor prepared by
anyone, nor worked up or preached by anyone. It was all the Spirit of God; and not for a few
hours or days, but months long. Oh! Blessed days! Come speedily to us again with your blessing!
Come speedily again!” Servaas, 1870, reporting on the revival of 1860, (The Forgotten Revival
of South Africa - Chapter 9.)

“The revival first began at the village of Montagu about the month of May and has visited since
the parishes of Worcester and Wellington, a portion of the parish of Tulbagh, and that part of the
parish of the Paarl which is called Klein Drakenstein. Since the month of August, the parish of
Calvinia, situated at a distance of hundreds of miles from these places, has also been affected by
this same religious movement. It is worthy of note that both Montagu and Calvinia were at the
time destitute of a minister, and very inadequately provided with the usual means of grace. In my
humble opinion, this simple fact stamps upon the revival the seal of Divine origin. In none of
these places I have mentioned can it be shown that the revival is connected with special exertions
of any individual.” Nicholas Hofmeyr (Hofmeyr, a brief account of the present revival of religion
in some places of this colony. [Microform copy])

30 years later Andrew Murray would change his mind about the type of preaching required before
and during a revival. “A revival of holiness is what we need.” “We need a preaching about
Christ’s claim on us that will lead us to live entirely for Him and His Kingdom.” “We need a
yielding to the Holy Spirit that will cause us to be led by Him in our entire daily walk.” In
conclusion, I ask to be permitted to give one word of advice to my reader. It is this. It needs time
to grow into Jesus the Vine. Do not expect to abide in Him unless you will give Him that time. It is
not enough to read God’s Word or meditations as here offered, and when we think we have hold of
the thoughts and have asked God for His blessing, to go out in the hope that the blessing will
abide. No, it needs day-by-day time with Jesus and with God. (Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ,
p. 7.)

“In evangelism the preacher calls on people to get saved; in revival people often call on the
preacher to tell them how they can get saved.” Selwyn Hughes (Selwyn Hughes, Why revival
waits, p.10)

“It is worthy of note that the Lord often removes the usual means of blessing that we are so
attached to when He wants to impart extraordinary Joy.” Maria van der Lingen - (M de Villiers,
p 207.)

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Main source:

Nel, Olea. South Africa's Forgotten Revival: The Story of the Cape's Great Awakening in 1860 . Olive
Twig Books. Kindle Edition.

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